Yumbi is an online ordering service that allows you to place an order to a restaurant on your cell phone or webpage. Using technology originally created for Debonairs Online Ordering, it is now it’s own company that allows any restaurant or take away store to have an online ordering portal. As the technology was co-developed by Cosoft, Yumbi has full integration with the Aura POS system.

This integration is done using a mediatorserver and client system. As the name suggests, a mediator server is a ‘middleman’ between Yumbi’s platform and the Aura POS system. When an order is placed through a Yumbi portal (such as a website, call centre or mobile app) it is submitted to a mediator server, where it is saved in the database. Stores using Aura will have a mediator client, which is a service that runs on the store’s Aura server PC. The mediator client communicates with mediator server and checks if any orders that have been placed for them.

If an order is placed for the store the client will acknowledge that the order is received and tries to process the order. It will then print the Order to the store’s Invoice and Production printers. It then it sends the status (whether successful or not) back to that mediator server, which can then send a success or failure acknowledgement to Yumbi.

Visual Example of the Yumbi/Online Ordering Process

Meditator Servers

Currently there are four instances of the mediator server running. Each mediator server has a different address and will require different login/configuration information before a mediator client can connect to it.

In order for a store to use Yumbi/Online Ordering with Aura, the mediator client will need to be installed. As with any Aura integration or expansion, the Online Ordering setup file will need to be released via Aura Updater. Before it can be released, these steps happen first:

When a store requests to be set up with Yumbi, they will contact Yumbi to sign up and create an account and profile with them, and provide them with all the necessary information.

Yumbi will then send a request to the Aura Development Department to have a profile created with information such as Store ID, name, area, trading times, and menu profiles.

The store is created on the mediator profile and then the relevant setup file is released which will contain the particular store’s configuration and will be different if the store is a Debonairs, Combo, or Other brand.

The Aura Updater will install the client at the store automatically.

Below are the different setups that may get released depending on whether the store is a Standalone or Combo:

*Combo stores will always have two installers released; one for Debonairs, one for the other brands.

Meditator Client Information

The setup installs to a folder called AuraMEDclient in the C:\Program Files\Alphapos\Aura directory (or C:\Program Files(x86)\Alphapos\Aura on 64-bit OSes). The following can be found in the folder:

Executable: aaMediatorClientSvc.exe

Service Name: AuraMEDClient

GUI: OnlineOrdering.exe

Settings File: aaMediatorClient.ini

Log File: aaMediatorClient.log

The setup will also create a Service called AuraMEDclient in the Services.msc service list (Start > Run > “services.msc”).

Combo Store Mediator Client Information

The Combo Yumbi Installer installs alongside the Base installer in combo stores. The setup installs to a folder called AuraMEDclientYumbi in the C:\Program Files\Alphapos\Aura directory (or C:\Program Files(x86)\Alphapos\Aura on 64-bit OSes). The following can also be found in the folder:

Executable: aaMediatorClientSvc.exe

Service Name: AuraMEDClientYumbi

GUI: OnlineOrdering.exe

Settings File: aaMediatorClient.ini

Log File: aaMediatorClient.log

The setup will also create a Service called AuraMEDclientYumbi in the Services.msc service list (Start > Run > “services.msc”).

AuraMEDclient directory contents

AuraMEDClient/Yumbi services entries in a Combo store

Below are some command line (CMD) commands that can be run to help out with service diagnostics on the store’s server:

For stores running Windows 8.1/10/Server 2012, access permissions can often prohibit proper communication between the mediator client and printers, or stop the service from operation completely. For this reason it’s recommended to set the service to log in as the Aurauser user. To do this take the following steps:

Open the Services windows (Start > Run > “services.msc”)

Double-click the AuraMEDClient service

Click the Log On tab

Select This Account and enter Aurauser as username with aurauser as password.

Click OK and then restart the service.

NB:This will need to be repeated for each instance of the service if the store is a combo store.

Mediator Client Configuration File (aaMediatorClient.ini)

The settings file is a .INI file which can be used to configure the service.The settings file contains the following information:

ServerURL

The URL of which Mediator Server the service is connecting to.

(As per the list of Mediator Servers above)

StoreID

The AEC StoreID for the store

AuthUser

The username used to connect to the Mediator Server

AuthPassword

The password used to connect to the Mediator Server

FunctionHost

Used by GUI to connect to the service

FunctionPort

Used by GUI to connect to the service

ConnectToExternal

Flag to determine whether to connect to a Mediator Server

This information will come Pre-Configured for the store from Aura Updater. If the information is incorrect you may correct it, but make sure to inform the Development Department.

Configuration file contents

NOTE:

if you are unsure if the INI file is correct, follow these steps to reload it from AES:

Uninstall the mediator using the Uninstall exe in the AuraMEDClient folder

Rename/Remove the aaMediatorClient.ini

Run Aura Updater and let it reinstall the mediator service and settings.

A new aaMediatorClient.ini file will be inserted automatically with the store settings on AES.

Online Ordering Printer Setup

After the Online Ordering/Yumbi client is installed, a new till called **ONLINEORDERING** is added to the Aura system, which will process orders coming through from Yumbi.

Printers will need to be set up on this till for Online Orders to be able to print out orders. The store will first need to choose which invoice printer and production printer they want the order to print out from. These printers need to be shared and accessible from the SERVER computer.

Connecting Printers

All Aura computers should have an AURAUSER user account. This account is important as it’s what the Online Ordering service must log in as to connect to the system’s printers. Use the following steps to connect printers for Online Ordering:

Log Off the current user on the server

Log in as Aurauser. The aurauser account is hidden by default, so you may need to use CTRL+ALT+DEL to be prompted with a manual user login screen. Use the password aurauser. NB: Do not give out the Aurauser username and password to customers.

When logged in, use the Run command to network access the machine that’s hosting the printer (e.g if the till machine is MAIN1, type \\main1). The computer’s shared printers and folders will be visible.

Right-Click the printer and click Connect…

Open Printers and Faxes (or Devices and Printers) and confirm that the connected printer shows (i.e Invoice on Main1 and Kitchen)

Once the necessary printers are connected, open Invoicing access Settings. Click Select Till and select the online ordering till (**ONLINEORDERING**).

Open the Printer Setup tab and set the Invoice and Production printers as a normal till using the printers you connected.

Example printer configuration

Testing Printers

You will need to confirm that the service can properly connect to the printers you’ve configured. While still logged in as Aurauser, take the following steps to test your printers:

Navigate to the Aura directory (C:\Program Files\Alphapos\Aura)

Right-click the AuraMEDClient folder and select Aura Command Here…

In the console, type net stop AuraMEDClient to stop the mediator service. If the service fails to stop you can kill the process in Task Manager.

Type aaMediatorClientSvc.exe /console. This will launch the service in Console Mode.

The console will display the background processes that run when the service is active, including connecting to the printers. See the below for the result when printers connect True:

Troubleshooting Guide

Online orders that fail are logged on the mediator server and can be viewed here:

An order in progress will display a status code of 0-4 depending on what stage of the ordering process it’s at. When an order fails, it provide a status code 93-98 which indicates where the problem lies.

Status Codes

0

Order Outstanding

1

Order Acknowledged by Store

2

Order Processed by Store

3

Manual Processing Started

4

Manually Processed at Store

91

Error validating: Item not found or Totals Do not Match(store menu not matching mediator)

Log into Windows as aurauser, change the Regional Settings in the control panel to Rands, and restart the service.

If the above doesn't work, open a registry editor window (Start->Run->regedit).

Under HKEY_USERS, expand each SID key (The most likely ones to be causing the problem are. S-1-5-18, S-1-5-19 AND S-1-5-20), expand Control Panel, and click on International.

Change the value for sCurrency to "R" for each SID, and restart the AuraMedClient service.

Check the regional settings on the aurauser account of the till the printer is connected to.

Other Diagnostic options

Internet connectivity issues

If the internet is down, the service will not be able to communicate with the server. The store will need to contact their ISP for internet troubleshooting.

Temporarily offline due to failures

As a safety mechanism, the service takes the store offline in the event of multiple failed orders. In order to resolve this, the cause of the order failure must first be addressed. Once it is fixed and a test order is sent through, the store goes online again.

Outside of trading times

Stores are taken offline outside of the trading times specified on the mediator server. If the store changes their trading times, they need to notify us to adjust their trading times on the Mediator server.

Logs

Online Ordering has extensive logging, every time an order is processed or any other action is performed by the mediator service it gets logged.

The log file is named:

aaMediatorClientSvc.log

The log file can be found in the installation directory

64bit: C:\Program Files (x86)\Alphapos\Aura\AuraMEDClient

32bit: C:\Program Files\Alphapos\Aura\AuraMEDClient

The following is a general example of what the log looks like after logging some activities:

As you can see from the above log example, every detail of the order is captured. Including details about data uploads/downloads. Line Items, printer functions, Invoice functions etc.

Any issue that might be caused by an Online Order can be found in the log, it’s imperative for support personnel to read log files, as they are there to reveal the issue or at the least help with narrowing down the problem.